Stars and Sun

One of my colleagues is retiring from a 30 plus year teaching career and last night I was supposed to go to a celebration in his honor, but unfortunately, a glitch with Chloe the cutie puppy's groomer made me too late to join the party. I made this card for our office staff to sign and give to him along with a few other fun, more personal tributes. I hope he enjoyed them!

I used this month's first Viva la Verve sketch for my card and went with a mostly monochromatic blue color scheme, starting with a blue on blue dotted panel covering most of the blue cardfront. A strip of embossed silver, matted with a blue panel matching the card base, runs across the card.

Instead of stamping, I used a glittery chipboard star as my focal image. It’s set on the navy blue oval panel with foam tape. For even more sparkle and shine, I added a piece of a clear crystal flourish extending from beneath the star. For the sentiment, I stamped “to infinity and beyond” from Verve’s Great Expectations set on a blue panel in darker navy blue ink. It’s a little non-traditional for a retirement card sentiment, but I think it works!

Materials Used:
Great Expectations stamp set (Verve Stamps); Not Quite Navy Classic ink, Marina Mist and Not Quite Navy cardstock (Stampin’ Up!); silver paper, silver glitter chipboard star, clear crystal flourish (Recollections); Lime Twist-Happy Go Lucky designer paper (My Mind’s Eye); oval die (Spellbinders); Polka Dot embossing folder (Sizzix); foam tape

And, to go with my star themed card, I also have a sun one. This one's pretty bright! It's based on this month's second Viva la Verve sketch and like the first one, has just a little stamping. For the image panel, I crafted a felt sun with a die cut base and a button center, tied with a little baker's twine. The sun is set on a light blue panel with the "hey there, sunshine" Plain Jane sentiment stamped at the bottom in contrasting turquoise ink.

I kept with the orange and blue color scheme for the rest of the card. The panel underneath the sentiment is a combination of two papers from a DCWV matstack, divided by a strip of orange grosgrain ribbon. A turquoise scalloped strip runs along the bottom to add some contrast. I set the assembled panel on a yellow-orange panel, then on an orange card base.

Materials Used:
Hey There, Sunshine Plain Jane (Verve Stamps); Tempting Turquoise Classic ink, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue, and Pumpkin Pie cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Summer Sunrise cardstock, Harvest Gold felt, Orange Zest button (Papertrey Ink); Flower Shower matstack (DCWV); oval die (Spellbinders); sun die (My Favorite Things); orange grosgrain ribbon (Michaels); orange baker's twine (Divine Twine); corner rounder